The harvard group scale of hypnotic susceptibility as a predictor of nonhypnotic suggestibility

Abstract A behavioral measure of nonhypnotic suggestibility (the Suggested Syllables Test) was developed. The measure required that Ss determine the identity of tachistoscopically presented nonsense syllables when, unknown to Ss, no syllables were present. Responses to the Suggested Syllables Test were determined for 111 Ss (56 males and 55 females) who had been previously screened using the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) of Shor and E. Orne (1962). It was found that Ss who had scored low on HGSHS:A reported perceiving the suggested syllables significantly (p<.001) less frequently than did Ss with either medium or high HGSHS:A scores.